Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Monday, May 15, 2017,
I'm a 'sinful' reader - I ignore housework and other chores and spend Sundays lying on the sofa reading a book. I shared my sin in a recent newsletter, adding that friends often thought I was wasting my time on books: "Think of all the other useful things you could do?" I've been told this by friends who might spend Sundays watching television.
The response to my confession shows I am far from alone in dissolute reading:
"I'm a culprit too. Reading in the day gives me pleasure, allows me to ref... Continue reading ...
Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Friday, January 6, 2017,
So we're at it again!
A new year means new submissions. It's an exciting time for us, and I have to confess I love to see the manuscripts arrive in our email box. Why? Because the novels are all so different - the creativity among new writers makes my heart race with excitement. I'm not sure if other publishers feel this excitement - I hope they do.
So bring it on - all writers who are engaged in or have graduated from an MA writing programme, send us your early chapters. We'll ensure the work ...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Tuesday, October 11, 2016,
I receive a lot of manuscripts from new writers. I send them out to book clubs and often read them myself. However, sometimes it's difficult to read beyond a few pages. The story becomes simply a collection of words and I no longer care what happens in the rest of the manuscript.
The main part of writing any story is making the reader care. You have to make us want to turn the next page. Grab our attention so that we don't notice that our supper is burning or that we have missed our stop on t...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Monday, March 7, 2016,
Let me begin by saying I don't enjoy science fiction. I have never yearned to read more sci-fi than I have ever tasted.
I read
The Martian because I had to - it was a reluctant purchase for book group and I feared never getting beyond 20 pages. I hadn't seen the film and didn't care to, no matter that it was tagged as 'comedy'.
However, I have to say
The Martian is brilliantly constructed and many new writers could take lessons from its author Andy Weir.
Throughout the read, I desperately needed...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Thursday, July 2, 2015,
It sounded like a good idea at the time. A promotion offering the chance to win your name in a future novel if you signed up to our newsletter. Well, it worked - the name Chris Rose will appear in a Hookline novel, probably in 2016. Both
Terms and
The Secret Mother are too far along in the editorial process to have name changes, but...watch this space!
Of course, we are aware that this is not exactly fair to our current newsletter subscribers, so another competition is lined up so that current...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Thursday, October 9, 2014,
Publishing is evolving. When Hookline
began, we were on the front line of changes. Lately we have felt as though we are standing still. We love the Hookline process of letting readers
find manuscripts worthy of publication. However, it is time to speed up
the process – over the years, we have lost out as good writers were snapped up
by other publishing houses during our lengthy ten-month, two-stage selection
process.
The first thing is to assure you all
that book groups will remain an inte...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Friday, February 21, 2014,
Just because you type 'The End' doesn't mean the work is finished.
Find out what else might need to be done by visiting my guest blog at The Chipping Norton Literary Festival page:
http://www.chiplitfest.com/blog/meet-one-of-our-sponsors-hookline-books/
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Tuesday, September 24, 2013,
I often receive calls from customers saying their local bookseller can't or won't order our books. I am always happy to supply direct however I dislike having to explain to a potential customer why they should experience any difficulty with a bookseller. Our books are printed by one of the largest printers in the country. We pay a huge percentage to a distributor to carry our books from printer to book shop. Why should a customer encounter any difficulty?
It all gets down to accounting.
There a...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Monday, July 2, 2012,
Print-on-demand publishing is a growing segment of today's book market.
For the uninitiated, print-on-demand means that books are printed as they are ordered rather than having a fixed print run of ten, twenty or thirty thousand books. For publishers, not having to commit money and warehousing space to thousands of books means we can take chances on new authors.
In the early days, print-on-demand technology wasn't great - the text wasn't even and the bindings often fell apart. This is no long... Continue reading ...
Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Wednesday, June 20, 2012,
So many unpublished writers are out there diligently working away at plot, character development and writing style. Brown envelopes are mailed to publishing houses and pushed into the reluctant hands of editors, who may only be on a shopping trip to Sainsburys (yes, it happens!) There is a desperation out there. So many writers want their work to be relished by readers.
It's a tough world - lot's of people telling stories while the majority of readers are engaged by a narrow field of best sell... Continue reading ...
Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Friday, February 10, 2012,
All submissions for this year's Hookline Novel Competition have been typeset and the files have been uploaded to the printer - I love those words, 'uploaded to the printer'. It doesn't mean our work is done - in the next two weeks, we should be in receipt of the paperbacks and the floor will be littered as we pack them for our book groups and drive to the post office where everyone in the queue shoots irritating looks at our 30 plus boxes.
But 'uploaded to the printer' means that we can have ...
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Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Wednesday, February 8, 2012,
Much praise has been heaped on Charles Dickens this year - rightly so! His stories have engaged generations, and his depictions of life at the bottom of the ladder helped alter Victorian sensibilities. But I think we have to discuss why his work captivated so many readers over so many years.
My theory is his serialisation - his chapters, written for periodic journals, had to grab readers so they couldn't wait for the next episode to be printed. So often today, a novel might grab us in the firs...
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Editor at Hookline Books - where book clubs and readers choose the novels that go to print.
